Slack To Integrate With Microsoft Teams For Cross-Platform Calls

Slack Technologies Inc. WORK is integrating with competitor Microsoft Corporation MSFT Teams to let users make cross-platform calls.

What Happened

"We're working on Teams integrations for calling features," the workplace communications company's chief executive officer Stewart Butterfield told RBC analyst Alex Zukin on a call, as reported by CNBC.

The feature would allow Slack users to be able to directly call users of Teams, without needing to leave its platform.

It's not immediately clear when the integration will happen.

Slack already has other Microsoft products integrated with its platform, including Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint, as noted earlier by CNBC.

The move comes as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has caused a remote work boom.

The demand for telecommunication services has increased, including for other companies like Zoom Video Communications Inc. ZM and Cisco Systems Inc.'s CSCO Webex.

Slack's simultaneously connected users jumped 20% between March 16 and March 25 at 12.5 million. Microsoft earlier reported that Teams added 12 million daily active users between March 11 and March 18.

Teams was launched two years after Slack in 2016 but has overtaken it in terms of daily active users, especially due to its popularity with big firms, as a CNBC survey found last year.

Price Action

Slack's shares closed 10.05% higher at $28.48 on Thursday and added another 0.56% at $28.64 in the after-hours session.

Microsoft stock closed 6.26% higher at $156.11 per share. The shares traded slightly lower at $155.69 in the after-hours session.